The MARS facility is currently a single node with eight ports that provide power and data plug-in capability at a depth of 890 meters in the Monterey Bay. MARS user equipment may be deployed by using MBARI ships and ROVs, UNOLS ships and submersibles, or a combination of both.
MARS Operations 
The primary mission of MARS is to provide a facility to test and develop equipment for the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) observatories. In many cases MARS will provide the first long-duration sea trials of ocean sensors under development. MARS will enable ocean engineers not only to directly monitor their instrumentation on the sea floor, but also to modify their software based on real world sensor inputs. If recovery of equipment is necessary, MBARI is only a two hour transit away from the node. To be cost effective, MARS will operate on a normal (40 hr.) work week schedule. This will minimize personnel costs and is appropriate for a test bed facility.
MARS Support
- Proposal Planning -
MARS Operations and Managment (O&M) will provide prospective users with support to estimate ship and ROV time to deploy and recover their experiments as well as the shore-side technician time required to test equipment prior to pre-qualification deployments in MBARI's test tank. MBARI does not have sufficient engineering resources to support all potential MARS users, but we have assembled a list of recommended engineering resources that can be tailored to a potential user's needs. This list includes freelance engineers from medium-sized companies, such as Ocean Design and Ocean Works (Vancouver, B.C.), as well as large companies such as SAIC. MARS O&M and the OOI office will assist potential users by providing a list of engineering resources that could fit their needs.
- Permits -
MARS is located in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. As such, some instrumentation will require permits and others may qualify under the MARS general permit. Federal regulations require NSF to assess whether a project meets applicable federal and state permits prior to awarding a proposal grant. NSF will use the standard proposal process to review MARS user proposals. If a proposal is judged acceptable but requires a permit, NSF may fund resources necessary for the permit process prior to granting the proposal. This may range from minor resources to prepare permit documentation to resources sufficient to submit an EIS (Environmental Impact Survey). NSF will submit proposals not covered by the MARS general permit through interagency channels for approval.
- Operational Support - Instruments deployed on MARS are the sole responsibility of the user. MARS does not have any DMAS (Data Management and Archiving) capability. Instead, MARS will direct data connectivity to a user-supplied IP address. If a MARS user needs power adjustments, instrument recovery, or other support over the course of a deployment, it will be addressed during normal working hours.
MARS Staff
- Operations Manager, Craig Dawe, is responsible for maximizing the success of MARS users. Additionally, the MARS Operations Manager is the primary resource to assess deployment “readiness” of science experiments as well as any infrastructure component of MARS. The MARS Operations Manager is also the ROV Ventana's Chief Pilot. By integrating MARS maintenance and operations requirements with the primary service vessel for MARS, we can maximize resources as much as possible.
- The MARS Facility Support Technician is responsible for the day-to-day control of the MARS system.
- MARS Co-Principal Investigator (operations), Steve Etchemendy, is also the Director of Marine Operations at MBARI. As the Operations PI for MARS, he will address policy issues, permitting, insurance, manning, and reporting obligations with OOI and NSF. He represents MARS O&M for UNOLS ship scheduling functions.
- MARS Co-Principal Investigator (technical), Gene Massion, will be responsible for technical transfer to OOI and will provide maintenance oversight, including managing maintenance support from the original MARS design team.
MARS User Costs (not covered by MARS Operations and Management)
MARS users must budget for ship costs, cable, connectors and interface electronics if necessary. MBARI has developed a Science Instrument Interface Module that will simplify interfacing new and existing equipment to MARS. The interface design is available at no charge to users. MARS users are encouraged to use the MARS manager as a resource in planning their proposal.
A MARS proposal may include a request for technical support and ship or ROV support from MBARI, or it can request UNOLS vessels/ submersibles or other resources. An example of services available "at cost" from MBARI is provided in the following table:
Description |
TOTAL |
TOTAL |
|
hourly |
daily |
LABOR: |
|
|
MARINE OPERATIONS TECH |
$72 |
$573 |
OCEAN OBSERVATORY TECH |
$69 |
$548 |
MACHINIST |
$76 |
$607 |
ENGINEER SUPPORT |
$110 |
$881 |
ENGINEER TECH |
$73 |
$587 |
|
|
|
TEST TANK RATE |
|
$450 |
Ship rates can be found at: http://www.mbari.org/mars/new/rates.html
Science port use cost
MARS will be available to several different funding organizations, including but not limited to: NSF, ONR, NOAA, NASA, DOE, and foreign oceanographic funding agencies. Each of the organizations will benefit from the availability of MARS as an ocean science and technology test site.We believe that the MARS O&M costs should be distributed fairly to the actual users and NSF should not bear the full burden of the ongoing operations and maintenance costs. To achieve this objective we propose a minimal fee for each project either funded by NSF or to those whose objective is to develop technology for OOI observatories using one of the eight MARS ports. The intent of this fee is help pay for maintenance and other costs after the first year. We will also require a fee equaling a fair share of the operational costs from other U.S. government funding agencies to use MARS, as these agencies may have objectives not directly linked to NSF or OOI. Additionally, we anticipate that a monthly fee will encourage MARS users to cycle through their testing at a reasonable pace to allow for other technologies to be tested using the limited number of MARS science ports.
The MARS science port fee rate will be governed by annual discussions with NSF (National Science Foundation,) JOI (Joint Oceanographic Institutions,) and OOI (Ocean Observatory Initiative) with dual objectives of providing a repair reserve and regulating the rate of MARS user science port use.
MARS Governanace
- MARS O&M as an OOI facility will be governed by policies set forth by the OOI office of JOI (Joint Oceanographic Institutions). This includes the OOI data policy.
- MARS Oversight Committee - The MARS Oversight committee will consist of representatives of JOI OOI management and the MARS O&M PIs. The following is a list of management issues under this committee's purview:
- Permit process review
- Scheduling review
- Performance review
- MARS Utilization Policy
The following priorities will be followed for MARS projects: - MARS Owners (i.e. NSF and MBARI)
NSF funded projects developing technologies for OOI observatories will be given first priority. NSF and MBARI have funded the development of MARS and the many supporting technologies that made the test bed facility a reality. Therefore, a minimal port cost rate for first tier "Owner" projects recognizes NSF's and MBARI's ongoing support of MARS.
- Fair Share (all other Federal agencies and non-profit organizations)
The second tier will be U.S. agencies that make contributions to ocean science and development but did not support the development of MARS or ongoing O&M costs. This tier is labeled "Fair share" because the port costs will be calculated based on operating costs for the MARS O&M divided by the ports and prorated on a monthly basis.
- Commercial/Foreign (vendors and foreign oceanographic institutions)
Finally the "Commercial/ Foreign" rate is normally twice the fair share rate. The OOI office may choose to make exceptions to this rule based on technology development directly applicable to NSF goals.